Dan's experience is valid still (as of August 2018), and that "invitation letter" is called "work permit notice".

I had not applied for work permit in the past, so I don't know how the invitation letter looked like before. But now it is a standard printout of the data that your employer has inputted about you and the employment to the online system, accompanied by the company stamp.

It includes a barcode, that consulates and other authorities can scan to quickly access the whole data in the electronic system.

@veravdn: "employer applies for the work permit, which I will then take to the consulate to get my visa"

Still not right.

First the employer applies for "work permit notice", which you take to consulate to get a work visa.

The work visa allows you get get in the country, after which your employer will have to separately apply for the final "work permit".

"work permit notice" could be described as a document addressed to consulate, saying this:

"yes, we will give this foreigner legal employment in China, just give her the visa so she can get here".

While the final "work permit" could say:

"you are now employed in company X, ranked as class A/B/C foreigner"

Getting off-topic, but while there let's keep going.

Some cities allow foreigners (who are already legally in country with another type of residence permit), to apply for work visa and work-based residence permit without leaving the country at all.

If I recall correctly, the online electronic system where work permit/notice applications are inputted, contained this option in the menu. But Kunming authorities either didn't know how, or were not allowed, to have us use it.

I was already legally in China on marriage-based RP, but we were going back home for couple of months anyway, so we didn't challenge them for that option and applied for visa while away.

@Veravdn:

Firstly your terminology is wrong. You don't apply for work permit in consulate, you apply for work visa.

Work permit you get after you come to China.

But even before you get to apply for work visa, the employer must create a "work permit notice" for you.

They input data for this online and then print and stamp a paper, which they e/mail to you so you can apply for work visa with it.

The "work permit notice" that is required as attachment to work visa application, includes information about which country you will apply for work visa. It don't remember if it shows in the paper, but the information is stored in system, and consulate staff can check it from there.

I know, because I did all that paperwork as employer to myself earlier this year, so I got to know both the employer and employee parts.

The official policy is that you will then need to apply for work visa in the specific country that is mentioned in your "work permit notice".

Now, some consulates may not follow this policy to the letter (especially in the past when this electronic system didn't exist), but it also means that they can change their own implementation on a whim.

If you indeed want to apply for work visa in HK or Thailand, then you should inform this to your employer in advance, and have them input this to the system.

I suspect that if that part is done by the book, then (non)residence in such a third country is not a major issue.

Dazzer may refer to the line which turns my speculation into something that shouldn't have been speculation (at least on my part) at all, if I had not missed it.

The article mentions that the attacker was a vocational college student as well.

"Police detain a 20-year-old suspect, surnamed Yang, in the provincial capital of Kunming

It is not clear what kind of weapon was used in the attack or what Yang’s motives were

The attacker wounded two teachers and 10 other students, one of whom died while being treated in hospital. The other wounded were not in immediate danger.

The report did not say what kind of weapon was used in the attack."

Wounded "10 other students", and considering the age, I'd spectulate that it was a student of the same school.